The field of the present invention is stoneholders of the type generally used by gemologists.
Stoneholders and other tweezer like devices have been used by gemologists for many years for the handling of diamonds and other precious gems. For example, when viewing a stone under a microscope, a gemologist will generally clasp a stone girdle to girdle between the jaws of a stoneholder and position the stone above the stage of the microscope. Next, the gemologist will adjust the microscope to insure that the stone is properly illuminated for viewing. However, because traditional stoneholders generally comprise a pair of stamped or moulded metal clasping members which resemble the jaws of an alligator clip, these stoneholders have a tendency to shroud a stone and to inhibit its illumination. Ordinarily, this shrouding constitutes only a minor impediment to the proper illumination of a stone because the majority of the light illuminating the stone enters the stone through its upper or lower surface. In contrast, when a stone is viewed against a dark field background, substantially all of the light illuminating the stone must enter through the sides of the stone, and the shrouding produced by the solid metal clasping members of traditional stoneholders becomes significant.